Shipping Postponed
over 4 years ago – Wed, Dec 04, 2019 at 01:51:27 AM

Hi again. We cannot get a break with this project.

Short Story

I have halted shipping out any more of the dice until I can have new dice made, so everyone gets great dice. They will not arrive in 2019.

I recognize this further delay may annoy some of you, but it's better than shipping out these dice.

Shipping started to Australia, Asia, and the UK, and I heard back that the dice were not the best. Then I got a shipment here myself--the first time I've seen in person some of the regular run (beyond picked samples). They really are not great. There are flecks of debris in some lines; the faces aren't well polished; there are a few paint issues; and some (though very few) are misshapen.

Those of you in Australia, Asia, and the UK: I will replace the bad dice in your set, and if you'd like I will replace your entire sets. After you've seen some photos of the new run I'll let you decide what you'd like to do.

I should receive the first new batch from the second manufacturer next week, and if everything looks good, I'll place another order with them to fill everyone's rewards. At that point I will have a better estimate of how much longer this will take, and I will let you know.

Long(er) Story

Quality

Knot Dice are not just a toy. They're also an art piece, and there's a tactile pleasure to handling them. Now, don't get me wrong, they're also a toy, a game, and a puzzle. They're fun and diverting.

If the dice don't fit all of those descriptions, they aren't doing their job. My decision was to either deliver something less, or keep going until I get it right. I will keep going.

Money

This part is not your concern, but many of you are interested, and I want to be open about this project. The funding from this project was intended to fill all orders, ship them out, and leave me with a good number of sets that I could then sell for the next year.

I've run through most of the funds from the campaign in producing 1+ runs of dice (I've already started having some replacements made by the second manufacturer). The remaining funds are set aside to cover shipping.

I will take a loan to cover the rest of the manufacturing costs of the dice. So, how many additional dice should I make above and beyond what I need to fulfill the Kickstarter? I need to figure out how many I might sell in the near future to help pay back the loan, and how soon I can run another project to help as well.

Taking a loan for this is a reasonable decision for me, because Knot Dice have sold well the past few years, and I expect that will continue. But for that to happen, and for future Kickstarter projects to be successful, the dice need to be high quality, and you (the backers) need to be happy with them.

I'm sorry our journey isn't over quite yet. I was looking forward to starting another journey with some of you at the beginning of 2020, but that is postponed until after delivering on this campaign.

Thanks for bearing with me, and I'll continue to keep you posted.

Delivery Update and Quality (Again)
over 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 09:24:38 PM

Hi again! I’ve gotten a good number of questions lately about delivery and dice quality. I don’t have all the final information yet, but I want to answer as many questions as possible all at once.

Delivery Update

The dice are due to arrive at the warehouse in the US by the end of next week (for delivery to the US, Canada, and the rest of the world excepting those below). At that point, the fulfillment company will start packing them up and shipping them out to backers. They will send email notifications when they ship.

A few backers in Australia and Asia have started receiving their dice already, since the dice didn’t have as far to travel.

There may be a delay in Europe, because the original company I was partnered with there told me they wouldn’t be able to deliver to backers before the end of the year. I’m hoping to transfer them to another company to deliver them sooner. I should find out if the timing works out by the end of next week, and will let you know.

Quality

A few of the dice that have been delivered already (to Australia) are not up to my quality standards. I have no idea yet how widespread this issue is, but hopefully not very.

Will I replace poor quality dice?

Short answer: Yes. I will replace what I can with hand-selected dice from this run, and then I will manufacture more with a second company (not the original manufacturer) and get the color as close as possible to the originals. It will take several months before I can deliver, but I will replace them.

I'll post a private update immediately after this one with a form for backers to request replacement dice.

Long answer:

I’ve been thinking about this for months, ever since the first quality issues came to light.

Both because I feel a responsibility to you, and because I want to make this a long-term business that I hope you will consider buying from in the future, I want everyone to be happy with their dice.

I considered a number of possibilities (discounts for future orders, shipping replacement dice with future orders), but I think this is the best choice.

Financially, this will be very difficult. The campaign has already spent more money that it made, and I expect to do another small production run (with the new manufacturer) to fill replacement requests. In addition, mailing a replacement die or two in a padded envelope, around the world, costs much more than if this were a card game and I only needed to mail cards in a flat envelope.

If I can get one backer in Canada and one backer in Australia to help me ship out replacements within those countries, I would be extremely grateful! I would send the replacement dice to that person along with money for packing and shipping. If you might be able to help, please let me know.

For the future, I will make some very big changes to prevent this from happening again, and to fulfill campaigns much more quickly as well. I’ll let you know more about that soon.

Replacement Dice
over 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 06:31:27 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Sailing! And something for puzzle-lovers...
over 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 02:36:00 AM

Hi again!

Just touching base to let you know that the dice are all on their way to their separate destinations. Some are due to arrive in their destination regions mid-November, some late November. It looks like we should be able to get everything shipped out to you by early-mid December.

I'll send out another update once the dice have touched down, probably a little over a month from now.

Meanwhile...

I mentioned before that I also design games that are published by other companies, and one of those games is on Kickstarter right now: The Search for Planet X. This is a logic puzzle and deduction game in which players are searching for a hypothetical planet that may be somewhere in the far reaches of our solar system.

It's an awesome puzzle you can play again and again, and it's already funded, so head on over to check it out if you're interested. The publisher has also just revealed that The Planetary Society is delighted by the scientific nature of the game and is partnering with Foxtrot Games on it.

Locking Addresses
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 03:01:52 AM

Hello! I've just sent out the address lock email to everyone, meaning that addresses will be locked in 48 hours from now.

That's because the dice will be finished being packed next week, and will be shipped out to their fulfillment destinations in the next couple of weeks, and I need to send the right numbers of dice to the right places.

I'm hoping we can start mailing them to backers around the middle of November, so if you're planning to move, that's the address we'll need. Get in touch with me directly through a KS message if a move looks dicey.

I'm keeping this update short and sweet and focused, so that's it! Update your address if you need to!